And I'm to the thumb hole opening. I'm just confused. Obviously the pattern wants me to stop knitting in the round, so I transfer all stitches to one needle and knit like on straights? How can I even tell what's the WS on this?

I always feel so defeated when I have to come here and ask. Like my good sense and Google have let me down.

Believe me, you're not the only person challenged by this concept. We've almost all had the same or similar questions and gotten help over them so you might as well benefit from our collective experience.
You don't have to transfer the stitches and in fact you couldn't put these sts onto one straight needle. When you get to the area of the thumbhole, turn your work as you would if you were at the end of a row. That means you'll take the right needle in your left hand and pick up the former left needle with your right hand and start purling. The purl side is the WS for this mitt.
When you've purled around to the thumbhole (a slight opening at this point), turn again and start with knit sts on the RS.
Good luck finishing these very good looking mitts!

Sometimes you can learn what you need to know from watching videos, but sometimes you need to ask real people, and that's the beauty of KH. I wouldn't have gotten very far in knitting if it hadn't been for the people here answering my questions.

There's no shame in asking; if you don't ask, you might never learn what you need to know.

Those are gorgeous mitts--so simple and elegant. Good luck with your project!

I'm glad you found Knitting Help. To not ask for help would have been dumb, asking lets you find out just how helpful and nice the people here are and get on with your knitting. I hope you stick around and join in the discussions. You could even ask more questions should you have them again.

__________________~ GG
I should never overestimate my basic arithmetic skills.

Quote:

Cheating is an option. . . . Cheaters never win and winners never cheat, but smart knitters who want to retain an iota of sanity do, cheerfully. ~~Kory Stamper

Believe me, you're not the only person challenged by this concept. We've almost all had the same or similar questions and gotten help over them so you might as well benefit from our collective experience.
You don't have to transfer the stitches and in fact you couldn't put these sts onto one straight needle. When you get to the area of the thumbhole, turn your work as you would if you were at the end of a row. That means you'll take the right needle in your left hand and pick up the former left needle with your right hand and start purling. The purl side is the WS for this mitt.
When you've purled around to the thumbhole (a slight opening at this point), turn again and start with knit sts on the RS.
Good luck finishing these very good looking mitts!